10 Stupid Easy Ways To Increase Your Step Count

Chemin Le Puy, 134.3 milesYou can do better than this!

Walking is, hands down, one of the easiest, safest and best forms of exercise you can do each day. Now that you've got a quality pedometer to accurately measure those steps, it's time to bump up those step counts. Every little bit helps!

Park farther away from those front-row parking spots. At work, at the grocery store, at the mall—no matter where you go, park away from the door. If you ride the bus, get off a stop or two early and walk the rest of the way.

If you have to talk to someone in the same building as you, walk over to them. Don't email them. Don't ring them up on the phone. Don't text them. Get up out of that chair and walk the hundred steps to speak to the person face-to-face.

Avoid people movers. Elevators, escalators, moving sidewalks—they're all devices designed specifically to reduce the number of steps you have to take, so stop using them!

Pace. Pace when you're talking on the phone. Pace if you need to think through an issue or complex problem. Some of your best thinking is done on your feet when your blood is flowing, so get out of the chair and pace!

Walk to nearby establishments. Instead of driving across town for lunch, walk to the deli across the street. Instead of driving to the grocery store for a carton of milk, walk to the convenience store a couple of blocks away.

Take the 'scenic' route when you walk. That convenience store might be a few blocks away, but you don't have to take the shortest route from point A to point B if you can follow the scenic route that goes through a park.

If your home or work has multiple bathrooms, use the bathroom that's the farthest away. (Drink plenty of water and you'll do the walk more often!)

Don't be so efficient! You could carry two bags of groceries from your car to your house at once, but you'll get in a lot more steps if you take the bags one at a time, and you might even be able to carry two small loads faster than a single awkward heavy load. Don't carry your clean laundry in a basket to your closet. Carry a few items at a time to put away, then return for more. Have a shopping list? Pick up the items on your list in the order you wrote them down rather than in a single trip around the store.

Walk around the store or mall before you shop. People watch. Window shop. If you see something you want to buy, commit yourself to one full circuit around the store or mall before you stop and purchase.

Walk in place while you're watching a movie or the television. Be sure to capture that up-and-down motion during your in-place walking to make sure your pedometer counts the effort!

Of course, if you aren't doing it yet, start tracking your steps here on Walking 4 Fun and walk a virtual trail. These 10 steps are ways to increase your step count during the day, but this site will help motivate you want to do more steps in the first place! More than a few people have reported that their step counts magically seemed to increase after joining this site!

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